Critical and Analytical Essays Open Access Mar 2026

Domestic Porosity and the Transcultural Uncanny in Select Japanese and Indian Folk Narratives

Debasmita Sarkar

This essay examines how Japanese folk narratives produce the uncanny not through spectacular supernatural intrusion but through subtle disturbances within domestic life. Drawing on Freud’s concept of the uncanny and Kristeva’s theory of abjection, the study explores how familiar spaces (such as household) become porous environment where boundaries between human, spirit, and object begin to dissolve. Close readings of the Japanese tales of “Yuki-Onna” and “Futakuchi Onna” demonstrate how secrecy, appetite, and bodily transformation destabilize the apparent stability of domestic order. The snow-woman’s silent return as wife reveals how intimacy may conceal alterity, while the hidden mouth of Futakuchi Onna exposes the tensions between bodily need and social expectations of restraint. The analysis extends comparatively to Girish Karnad’s Nāga-Mandala and Abanindranath Tagore’s Khirer Putul, where serpent lovers and edible dolls function as mythic substitutions that articulate otherwise inexpressible domestic anxieties. Japanese traditions of animated dolls (ningyō) further illustrate how objects may serve as vessels of memory and spiritual presence. Across these narratives, the uncanny emerges through symbolic substitutions that transform landscapes, bodies, animals, and objects into alternative forms of life. The article argues that folklore imagines domestic space as fundamentally relational, where human identity remains permeable to nonhuman forces.

10.63752/pijcace.0102W05

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Book and Exhibition Reviews Open Access Jun 2025

Truth, Beauty, and the Aesthetic Quest: Arjun Bharadwaj’s Exploration of Homer through Indian Thought

Amritanath Bhattacharya

This review examines Arjun Bharadwaj's Indian Perspective of Truth and Beauty in Homer's Epics, a comparative literary study that applies Indian aesthetic philosophy to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Bharadwaj employs millennia-old Indian aesthetic theories from scholars like Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta to explore universal principles of truth and beauty in Western epic literature. Rather than examining Greek influence on Indian civilization—the dominant scholarly discourse—this work reverses the trajectory by using Indian frameworks such as puruṣārthas (life goals) and rasa (aesthetic emotions) to analyze Greek epics. The author's methodology includes comparative analysis of the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Iliad, and Odyssey, examining their spatial-temporal constructs, character ethics, and divine-human relationships. Bharadwaj also analyzes Homer's use of arthālaṅkāras (figures of sense) through Indian poetic theory. The review suggests that Bharadwaj approaches Homer not merely as a scholar but as a poet seeking to discover the eternal aesthetic essence that transcends civilizational boundaries, creating a dialogue between Vālmīki, Vyāsa, and Homer across millennia.

10.63752/pijcace.vol.1.issue.01S.007

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Critical and Analytical Essays Open Access Jun 2025

Cinema Between the Surgeon and the Observer: Benjamin, Bazin, and Hitchcock’s Psycho

Sayantan Dutta

This paper examines the theoretical divide between Walter Benjamin and André Bazin regarding cinema's relationship to reality, using Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) as a case study to bridge their seemingly contradictory positions. Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility" (1935) conceptualizes cinema through the metaphor of a surgeon penetrating reality with mechanical instruments, emphasizing montage and editing as fundamental to cinematic meaning. Conversely, Bazin's "Ontology of the Photographic Image" (1945) advocates for cinema's capacity to maintain distance from reality, allowing the medium's indexical relationship to the pro-filmic world to emerge naturally without excessive intervention. Through close analysis of the infamous shower sequence in Psycho, this study argues that these two theoretical approaches are not mutually exclusive but complementary. The sequence demonstrates Benjamin's penetrative metaphor through its voyeuristic camera work and violent imagery, while simultaneously exploiting Bazin's notion of photography's ontological connection to reality to achieve its lasting shock value. This analysis suggests that cinema's power lies in its dual capacity to both penetrate and preserve reality, offering a framework for reconciling these foundational film theory perspectives.

10.63752/pijcace.vol.1.issue.01S.003

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Critical and Analytical Essays Open Access Jun 2025

Moral Dilemmas and Values of the Middle Class in Mrinal Sen's Films: A Study of Ek Din Pratidin and Kharij

Md. Saddam Hossain

This study examines the moral contradictions and values of the Bengali middle class as portrayed in Mrinal Sen's acclaimed films Ek Din Pratidin (1979) and Kharij (1982). Through critical analysis of Sen's cinematic techniques and narrative choices, this research explores how the filmmaker exposed the hypocrisies, moral ambiguities, and social complicity embedded within middle-class life in post-Independence India. In Ek Din Pratidin, Sen interrogates patriarchal surveillance and the performative nature of middle-class morality through the story of a working woman's delayed return home. Kharij confronts issues of class privilege and structural violence through the tragic death of a child domestic worker. Both films demonstrate Sen's commitment to what this study terms "cinema of ethical interrogation"—a cinematic approach that avoids melodrama while exposing the normalized violence of social hierarchies. Rather than offering moral verdicts, Sen's realism compels audiences toward uncomfortable self-reflection. His unflinching critique reveals how middle-class virtue often masks systematic exclusion and selective empathy, making his work profoundly relevant to contemporary discussions of social justice and moral responsibility in South Asian cinema.

10.63752/pijcace.vol.1.issue.01S.002

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Critical and Analytical Essays Open Access Jun 2025

Bharata Muni as a Microcosm of Cosmic Emanation: Sustaining, Offering and Expanding Nāṭya through Icchā, Jñāna, and Kriyā

Shri Piyal Bhattacharya

This paper examines Bharata Muni through a traditional śāstrika lens, moving beyond historical debates to interpret him as a cosmic principle of performative knowledge (nāṭya-jñāna). Using Sanskrit philological analysis, the study unpacks the name Bharata as bharati-rāti-tanoti (sustains-offers-expands), revealing a microcosmic model of cosmic emanation functioning through icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge), and kriyā (action). The analysis demonstrates how Bharata represents not merely an individual scholar but a community of artists—a sampradāya embodying the dharma of manifesting and offering theatrical knowledge for collective benefit. Drawing from the Nāṭyaśāstra, Abhinavabhāratī, Upanishads, and dharmaśāstra texts, the paper establishes connections between aesthetic theory and spiritual goals, positioning nāṭya as a means to transcend material existence and achieve Self-realization. The study reveals how Bharata's system transforms both performers and spectators through rasa (aesthetic experience), leading from material engagement to spiritual awakening. This interpretation emphasizes nāṭya's role as dharmic practice rather than mere entertainment, offering a framework for understanding Indian performance traditions as vehicles for mokṣa (liberation) through the integration of artistic excellence with spiritual discipline.

10.63752/pijcace.vol.1.issue.01S.001

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Critical and Analytical Essays Open Access Jun 2025

A Comprehensive Analysis of Sarasvatī Kṛtis by Prof. R. Visweswaran

Dr. Uma Kumar

In the Nadīstuti Sūktās of Vedic scriptures, Goddess Sarasvatī emerged as the divine river of consciousness and enlightenment, nourishing the genesis of Vedic Sanskrit civilisation. This study conducts an in-depth analysis of eleven Sarasvatī kṛtis composed by Saṅgīta Chūḍāmaṇi Prof. R. Visweswaran to examine their musical and lyrical intricacies. The research employs systematic musicological analysis to investigate the employment of rāgas ranging from mēḷa, auḍava, vakra, rakti, and Hindustānī classifications, alongside their corresponding tāḷās. Each composition is analysed for its structural elements, including rāga mudrās, svarākṣarās, chiṭṭe svarās, and madhyamakāla sāhityās, while examining the scholarly integration of the Sanskrit and Telugu languages. The study reveals how these compositions beautifully weave together Vedic philosophical concepts with contemporary musical expression, demonstrating Prof. Visweswaran's mastery in creating devotional music that bridges ancient wisdom with modern artistic sensibilities. The findings indicate that these kṛtis serve as vehicles for spiritual contemplation while showcasing sophisticated musical craftsmanship, offering contemporary artists profound scope for both devotional expression and technical exploration in Carnatic music performance.

10.63752/pijcace.vol.1.issue.01S.004

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